Paul Maurice will be cracking his whip over the Winnipeg Jets for the foreseeable future, after signing a four-year contract to coach the team.

The 47-year-old, who took over from Claude Noel mid-season, says it wasn’t a tough decision.

“I looked around — that’s part of what you do as a coach, try to find the best place,” Maurice said via conference call, Wednesday. “There wasn’t in my mind another place like this, that fit for me. This was the team I wanted to coach. I don’t want to say I had my eye on this job. But I had my eye on this team for a while.

“I thought there was enough improvement that could be made with the personnel here, and because it was so young it could get better.”

Maurice took over when the Jets were 19-23-5, and immediately sparked a 9-2 run that brought the team to within striking distance of a playoff spot.

But they tailed off down the stretch, finishing 18-12-5 under the Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. native and landing in last place in the NHL’s Central Division, seven points out of the playoffs.

Maurice says the team’s response to adversity helped convince him to stay.

“When things started to wobble a little bit... the way players responded to being pushed a little bit,” he said. “That (was when) I was sure this was the place for me, that I was comfortable here. That I could be part of the solution.”

Seeing a leader like Mark Stuart sign a long-term contract was also a promising sign, the coach said.

“You couldn’t afford to have key pieces, guys like Mark, to say they wanted to play someplace else. Those guys have to be invested in the team.”

Maurice’s top priority is establishing a foundation built on better conditioning and work habits, something he warned the players about with a grueling skate with two games left in the season.

“He made a tremendous impact from the moment he walked in,” Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff said. “We believe we’re just scratching the surface on the impact he can make on this franchise.”

On the ice, Maurice wants to cut down on goals against, first.

“Defence first,” he said. “But that’s not the game we’re planning on playing as an identity. When we’re finished with what our team should look like, you’ll say we’re just an incredibly hard forechecking team and very, very aggressive. But we clearly have to become a better defensive hockey club.”

Negotiations between Maurice and the Jets were swift — he worked out the deal with Cheveldayoff, then flew home Tuesday to make sure his family was OK with relocating from Columbus, Ohio.

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Paul Maurice will be cracking his whip over the Winnipeg Jets for the foreseeable future, after signing a four-year contract to coach the team.

The 47-year-old, who took over from Claude Noel mid-season, says it wasn’t a tough decision.

“I looked around — that’s part of what you do as a coach, try to find the best place,” Maurice said via conference call, Wednesday. “There wasn’t in my mind another place like this, that fit for me. This was the team I wanted to coach. I don’t want to say I had my eye on this job. But I had my eye on this team for a while.

“I thought there was enough improvement that could be made with the personnel here, and because it was so young it could get better.”

Maurice took over when the Jets were 19-23-5, and immediately sparked a 9-2 run that brought the team to within striking distance of a playoff spot.